Haven't played a Pokemon game since Red 20 years ago. About 10.5 hours in and about to hit the first gym. I like the wild area, has me thinking it'd be cool for the next pokemon game to be another non-core game where its a BotW type huge wild area with town and gyms you can freely go into to explore and compete at, with the entire list of pokemon out in the wilds to find.
Liking the game so far, tho since I'm older now i think i do wish it was a bit harder and had more depth to it, but its a kids game afterall.
Don't see how some people are beating it in 20 hours or whatever unless they're just trying to quickly go through the game without really exploring and experiencing it.